The Old Ones
by Benji The Vampire Confuser
Summary: First Season Buffy. The mysterious ailments of "The Witch" and a panicked answering machine message from a Bronze patron spark an FBI investigation of Sunnydale California. Guess who's coming to Dinner?
1. Default Chapter

**The Old Ones**

**Part of the Omniverse Project**

**by Benji The Vampire Confuser**

_Mulder and Scully are the property of Ten Thirteen Productions. Buffy and friends belong to The WB. Characters are used without permission, but since I'm broke, and not making any money off this, It would be pointless to sue me._

_For Buffy fans, this takes place before "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date". For X-Files fans, this takes place at no particular time._

_Author's Note: I wrote this many years ago. It may not be quite up to par with some of my later fics, but I like it anyway._

* * *

**The Bronze**

**Sunnydale, California**

**Thursday, March 13 1997**

**10:02 p.m.**

Luke held the bouncer in his arms, draining him of his blood, and life energy. The majority of the former revelers were standing in shock, hoping, praying they would not be next on the menu, and trying to make sense of what was going on. Fortunately for all, help was on the way.

But Martin did not know that. Martin was certain that he was going to die that night, but he had to make sure that someone on the outside knew what was going on. Martin was considered a bit of an oddball at school. He dressed in black no matter the temperature outside, and wore shades even at night. But even more strange according to Miss Bitch '97 Cordelia Chase, was that he believed.

Aliens, werewolves, witches, ghosts, goblins, demons, bigfoot, government conspiracies, he believed in them all. Most of all he believed in vampires.

Quietly, he sidled away from the crowd, being sure not to attract the attention of the vampires in the club. He silently opened the door to one of the phone booths. None of them had clear doors, or windows so he was secure of his safety.

He dropped a quarter in the slot and dialed a number he'd called just yesterday when he'd seen the state of the body in the locker room. Martin was on the mailing list of the Lone Gunmen, and when he'd told them some of his beliefs, they'd put him in touch with another man on the list. Special Agent Fox Mulder of the FBI It was this man he called now.

Outside the phone booth, the action stopped suddenly as a vampire fell from the rafters, screaming. Luke looked up, and saw the girl who had humiliated him the other night. "Kill her!" he cried.

Martin could tell that something was happening outside. When the head vampire had shouted, "Kill her!" His spirits rose. Perhaps he'd live after all. He hung up quietly. He gingerly opened the door just in time to see the head vampire killed by the new girl, Buffy. _Hmm,_ he thought. _Something to e-mail to Agent Mulder._

But better than that, here was something interesting in this otherwise boring town.

* * *

**FBI Headquarters**

**Washington DC**

**Friday, March 28 1997**

**11:12 a.m.**

_From: Martin Skorse_

_To:_

_Subject: I believe._

_It has been brought to my attention by some mutual friends of ours that you believe in aliens and the like. My question to you is, how far does your belief extend? I myself believe in it all, so I guess a better question is, What do you not believe in? But I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Martin Skorse, I'm a receiver of the Lone Gunman, as are you I'm told. I've chatted with the Lone Gunmen themselves, and when I mentioned some of my beliefs, such as Aliens and Government conspiracies, they told me about you, and gave me your e-mail address._

_I hope you don't mind, they said they'd tell you about me as well, so you'd at least have some idea of who I am. I'd love to chat with you sometime, just so as to talk about stuff that anyone else would have me committed for._

_Sincerely,_

_Martin "Van Helsing" Skorse_

_"Listen to them. The children of the night, what music they make."_

_-Count Dracula_

_"Dracula"_

Scully finished the e-mail and looked quizzically at her partner. "You're showing me fan mail Mulder?" she asked.

Mulder smiled slightly at the dig. "They've got a weekly news letter and everything Scully. They call themselves X-Philes."

Scully groaned at the pun. "Why are you showing this to me Mulder? It's just some lonely kid who wants to talk to somebody who believes."

"Sounds like me Scully." Mulder smiled. Then he held up a tape recorder. "I showed you that so that you wouldn't be confused when you heard this."

Mulder pushed play, and an excited teenage voice began speaking, no not excited, Scully realized, frightened.

"Agent Mulder, it's me Martin, the guy who sent you that e-mail. Um, I know that this is gonna sound crazy...I didn't know who else to call, uh, oh god. Vamp, Agent Mulder, vampires have trapped me, and god knows how many people in the local nightclub. The leader, he's, oh Jesus, he's killing people, draining their blood, making us watch. I managed to sneak into a phone booth, I needed to make sure someone would know. The leader, he's talking about something called the harvest, like they've got some sort of invasion planned. I...get hold of my mom, tell her I love her."

All through the recording, Scully could plainly hear someone saying something in the background, and people screaming.

"My God Mulder," Scully said incredulously, "How drunk was that kid?"

Mulder looked disappointed. "Scully that kid was scared. I don't think he was that drunk."

"But Mulder, Vampires? Give me a break."

"Scully, vampires or no vampires, something was going on there."

"How can you be sure Mulder?"

"Because of this Scully." Mulder pulled open his drawer and removed a file. Scully sighed and took it.

The folder was filled with newspaper clippings, and police reports. The first clipping was about several missing teenagers, all of whom disappeared within several days of each other. The next was about a body found in the local high school. According to the news clipping, and the police and coroner's reports; the boy was Marcus Campbell, a former student, but drop out. His body had been stuffed inside a locker in the girl's locker room, and found when one of the girls opened her locker to change for gym.

_Geeze, that poor girl._ Scully thought. Then her eyes caught the coroner's report. The boy's body had been completely drained of blood, and two puncture wounds were found on his neck. Then came the clincher. Scully looked at the report for the night club scene. "Mulder when did you get that message?"

"The 13th."

"So there was something going on." she said under her breath. "But still that doesn't mean there were vampires Mulder. He's a kid right? And if he was in a night club, he'd probably had a lot to drink. Somehow he concocted this vampire story in a drunken stupor." Scully held the file in her hand and pointed to it. "According to this, the attack was part of some gang fight or something, and the victims were just caught in a crossfire."

"Scully, do rival gangs drain people of their blood with two puncture wounds in the neck, without putting a stain on the floor?" Mulder pressed her.

Scully sighed. "Well your contact isn't listed among the dead, so I'd guess he made it out."

"Indeed he did Scully." Mulder said. "In fact, here." He called up another e-mail.

_From: Martin Skorse_

_To:_

_Subject: I'm Aliiiive!_

_Yes Agent Mulder, I made it out of there in one piece, and not a quart low. How you may ask? Well I'll tell you (if I seem a trifle pretentious, it's because I'm still reeling from escaping what seemed at the time to be certain, unholy death):_

_It seems that I'm not the only one in town who believes in vampires. In fact there are several somebodies. One is a new girl in school, named Buffy (why anyone would name their child Buffy is beyond me, though I hear she's from LA) Summers. The others are, our school's new librarian Rupert Giles, and the other two are Buffy's friends, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenburg._

_Buffy almost single handedly killed the invading vampires, with a little help from her friends. I feel safe in saying there's something special about her, her strength, speed and skill, it's almost as if she's genetically different or something._

_Anyhow, it seems that for now our sleepy little town of Sunnydale is safe from the hounds of hell as it were. I will keep you posted._

_Sincerely,_

_Martin "Van Helsing" Skorse_

_"Nosferatu!_

_Gesundteight."_

_-Anonymous_

Scully turned from the e-mail with a sigh. "Well whatever else he is he's creative. He's got a good future as a horror writer ahead of him."

Mulder smiled. "Hmmmm, `Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?" Encouraging her, he pointed to the file. "Keep looking at that file Scully, the town's almost an X-File in itself."

"There's only three more reports in here Mulder how strange could they be?" Scully skimmed thorough the reports and gaped. "Spontaneous Human Combustion? Unexplained, complete blindness? A girl's mouth suddenly covered by a mass of tissue? My God Mulder have you told Skinner about this?"

"Oh he knows Scully. He's just trying to arrange an investigation. But Scully there's one more thing, I won't bore you with the e-mail, but old `Van Helsing' says that witchcraft was involved."

"Mulder, Spontaneous Combustion is rare but not impossible. There's nothing magical about it."

"What about a girl suddenly and quickly going blind without any apparent damage to her retina, and just as quickly recovering her sight? Or a girl growing a seamless mass of tissue over her mouth in a matter of seconds, and equally as quickly having it disappear without a trace?"

Scully sighed in submission. "I don't know Mulder."

* * *

**Sunnydale High School**

**Sunnydale, California**

**Monday, March 31 1997**

**11:30 a.m.**

Martin didn't pretend to know exactly what was going on in Sunnydale. First, the vampires, then, the apparent witchcraft, and now, his biology teacher's headless body being found in the school cafeteria's freezer. The tiny town was definitely becoming a lot more interesting to live in. He'd begun to carry a few stakes and a bottle of holy water with him where ever he went at night.

Today Martin was a man on a mission. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew who probably did. And he intended to find out. Ahead of him, he saw one of the people he was looking for.

"You're in my way." Cordelia said rudely.

Willow started, and began to move aside.

"Cordelia," Martin said, "There's this new fad out now called manners. You might want to check it out." Willow smiled at this.

"I don't recall giving you permission to speak to me." Cordelia retorted.

"Don't lose your head." Martin said meaningfully. Cordelia blanched at the memory he'd brought to the surface with that remark and hurried away without a word.

"Wow," Willow said, "Not bad." Willow was amazed. Martin was usually a very shy person, much like her actually, only she was not as weird. Sure he stood up to people who were rude to him or tried to push him around, but he'd never been known to come to anyone's rescue before.

"Thanks." Martin said. "I've been practicing." Then, his shyness came through as he posed his question. "Um, I was wondering..."

"Yes?" Willow could tell that he was battling his shyness, he was blushing.

"Would you like to eat lunch with me today?"

Once again Willow was surprised. Martin was practically asking her out! A warm glow filled her. Not because Martin was asking her, she'd much rather have Xander ask her out. But because anyone was asking.

"Um, well," Now Willow found herself battling with her own shyness, "I was gonna eat lunch with Buffy and Xander, but you're welcome to join us."

Martin smiled gratefully. "Cool, thanks." Inside, Martin felt dirty. He felt as if he were just using her to get information. Firmly, he vowed that he would not betray any trust that Willow or her friends chose to bestow on him.

"Hey Willow," Xander said, catching up to them. He looked at Martin for a moment. "I know you." he said. "You're Martin Skorse aren't you."

"I hope so," Martin said, "I'm wearing his underwear. God, I've always wanted to say that."

"Uh, yeah." Willow said. _He'd fit in quite well with the rest of us._ she thought. _Or at least our lifestyle._

"Martin's eating lunch with us today Xander." she said. Secretly, she wondered if Xander would get jealous.

"Cool." Xander replied. _Well there goes _that_ topic of conversation._

Martin watched Xander and Willow as they approached Buffy's locker. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, some secret look to pass between them maybe. So intent on his scrutiny was he, that he didn't see Buffy open her locker till it was too late.

Buffy started at the sudden impact on her locker door. She turned just in time to see Martin reel back from impact and fall on his back.

"Ouch." he said, holding his head.

Buffy tried hard not to laugh, that was the old Buffy, the pre-slayer Buffy and despite her attempts to recapture some of that, the personality was not something she was proud of. In fact, Cordelia reminded her of herself back in LA.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Grasping his hand, she hauled him to his feet.

"Yeah," Martin said, embarrassed, "Hope I didn't damage your locker."

Buffy smiled. Then she looked more closely. "I don't know you do I." she asked.

"Uh," Xander said, "This is Martin Skorse. The weirdo that Cordelia probably would have gotten around to warning you about. If, that is, you had kept hanging out with her." Suddenly he realized what he had called Martin. "Not that being a weirdo is a bad thing." he said quickly. "Some of my best friends are weirdoes-" Then he realized what he had implied. "I mean, I, uh, I'm not helping am I?"

"So," Martin said, "You would be Buffy."

"Yes I would." she said. She shot a quick questioning look to Willow and Xander.

"Martin's eating lunch with us." Willow said.

Buffy was filled with the familiar rush of good feelings that she always got when one of her friends in LA had gotten a guy. And since Willow was shyer than all her friends in LA, her pride was double the usual.

"Cool." she said, smiling meaningfully at Willow. As they headed outside, Buffy sidled up to Willow. "Good for you." she whispered enthusiastically. "And this time it's not a Vampire! But what's this about him being a weirdo?"

"Oh that's just Cordelia. I really don't know him well enough to form any sort of opinion. What I do know is that he's really interested in anything that has to with unexplained phenomena."

"Well," Buffy said, "He should fit in just fine."

* * *

**FBI Headquarters**

**Washington DC**

**Monday, April 7 1997**

**10:22 a.m.**

"Agent Mulder, Agent Scully, you two are to catch the next flight to California." Skinner said. "I imagine that by now you know what this is about."

"Yes sir." they said. Mulder was careful to hide his pleasure at finally being given the assignment.

"Agent Mulder." Skinner said. Mulder sighed inwardly. He'd learned to know when the scoldings were coming.

"Yes sir."

"I wish to point out to you, to remind you, that you are going out there to catch a serial killer. Not Vampires. Or witches. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." Mulder said. "But what happens sir, if that's exactly what we find?"

Skinner looked at Mulder unblinkingly for a moment. "You're dismissed." he said at last.

In the hallway, Scully hurried to catch up to Mulder. "Mulder do you actually think you're going to find supernatural forces at work there?" she asked incredulously.

"I don't know what we'll find Scully." Mulder said. "But our contact thinks that there's something rotten in the state of Denmark."

"Mulder _your_ `contact' subscribes to the Lone Gunman."

"What's your point Scully?"

"That was my point."

Mulder merely smiled. "I'll meet you at the airport Scully."

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I have a stop to make."

* * *

**Headquarters of the Lone Gunmen**

**11:00 a.m.**

Langley sat perched on the edge of his desk while Byers typed away at the computer screen.

"So what have you guys got for me on Sunnydale?" Mulder asked.

"You mean besides the fact that they've got the hottest babes in the country?" Frohike asked.

"I don't even want to know why you know that Frohike." Mulder said.

"Actually it's a pretty interesting area." Langley said. "Do you know what the Spanish settlers used to call it?"

"No." Mulder said indulgently, expecting some useless trivia, which usually preceded the good stuff. "What did the Spanish settlers used to call it?"

"Boca Del Infierno." Langley said.

"Which means?"

"Hellmouth." Byers interjected. "The entire area in and around the town is believed to be one of the seven gates of hell. A place where the boundary between Earth and the Underworld is very thin."

Mulder thought about this. "That is interesting. Tell me more."

"Not much else to tell actually." Byers said. "The Indians shunned it, but the Spaniards built Sunnydale there anyway."

"Makes sense to me." Frohike broke in. "They probably wouldn't have any problems with Indian attacks."

"Things were peaceful until about 1937, sixty years ago. There was a sudden rash of murders, all involving bodies drained of blood. Then couple of weeks later, there was a big earthquake and the killings suddenly stopped. Until now."

"Is that all you have?" Mulder asked, checking his watch. He still had plenty of time before he had to get to the airport.

"On Sunnydale, yes." Byers said.

"But," Langley picked up, "We also checked up on the people Martin named."

"What do you got on them?"

"Rupert Giles is the librarian of Sunnydale High School. Before that he was a curator at some museum in England. There's nothing really interesting about him. His a Brit., you know how they can be." Langley said.

"Langley, obviously you've never seen British humor." Mulder said.

"As for Alexander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, your typical sophomore high school students, though Willow's grades are better than Alex's."

"And then we come to Buffy." Langley said.

"We found a picture of her in her cheerleader uniform." Frohike smiled. "I have a new poster up on my wall."

"At first, your average valley girl." Langley said.

"Passing grades, no more than the average unexcused absences." Frohike picked up the story. "But beginning her sophomore year, this is while she lived in LA by the way, her attendance record dropped, and at a dance, she burned down the gym."

"Nice girl." Mulder smiled.

"Yeah well here's the weird part." Frohike said. "In the weeks of her decline, there were a lot of murders."

"Let me guess the rest." Mulder said. "All the bodies were drained of their blood and when the gym burned down, they stopped."

"Exactly." Langley said. "Buffy was kicked out of school, and she and her mother moved to Sunnydale."

"Where the murders started up again." Mulder murmured. "What about Martin himself?" he asked.

"An orphan. He lives with a foster family. His parents were killed when he was four." Langley paused for effect. "They were drained of all their blood. Had two puncture wounds in their necks. Happened right in front of him."

"How did he get away?" Mulder asked.

"Don't know. The police reports say he was hysterical, they couldn't make any sense out of what he was saying."

"Thanks for your help guys." Mulder said, leaving. "You've given me a lot to think about."

"Should we tell Martin you and Scully are coming?" Byers asked him.

"Nah. Let it be a surprise."

* * *

**Wolf Gap Campground**

**West Virginia**

**Monday, July 25, 1985**

**8:30 p.m.**

Four year old Martin Skorse could not be any more excited. Here he was on his first camping trip. And with his three favorite people. His mommy and daddy, and his teddy bear Skip. They were sitting around a campfire, he and his mommy were toasting "marchmellows" as he called them, and singing along with his daddy who was accompanying on guitar.

"Oh you can't get to heaven," his father sang.

"Oh you can't get to heaven," he and his mommy repeated.

"In a red canoe,"

"In a red canoe,"

"'Cause the Lord's favorite color,"

"'Cause the Lord's favorite color,"

"Is navy blue!" a voice shouted from the woods.

Martin jumped at the unexpected noise and accidentally shook his marchmellow of his stick and into the fire. But Martin didn't notice. There was someone in the woods. A _stranger_. But he wasn't worried. After all, what could harm him when he had his mommy and daddy to take care of him? It was only when he was alone that he had to worry. His daddy would get rid of the stranger and all would be right with the world once more.

"Hello?" his daddy stopped playing the guitar and set it down. "Who's out there?"

"Nobody here but us bats." the voice rasped.

"What do you want?"

Suddenly, the owner of the voice crashed out of the woods into the circle of light provided by the fire. "To feed!" he yelled and grabbed his dad.

Martin felt the first stab of fear as the man grabbed his daddy's head, and bit his neck.

Martin's mommy screamed, which sent another dagger into him.

Then his father's scream ripped through the night. Martin fell into the deep chasm of terror. His high pitched scream diverted the man's attention, and it threw the lifeless husk of his daddy to the side, and smiled at him. It was a hideous face, one rank with evil. It was a face Martin had seen many times. In the closet and under the bed, before his daddy came and drove it away with his presence.

The man's attention was once again diverted. But this time it was by his mommy's outraged shout.

"Don't you dare hurt my son!" she cried, and brought a huge stick down on it's head.

The man laughed and grabbed her. He twisted her arm behind her back and grabbed her hair, pulling her head back. She screamed in pain as he sunk his teeth into her jugular. By the time he was done feeding, Martin had exhausted his screams. He merely cowered on the edge of the firelight, sobbing and clutching Skip.

"You're a cute one." the man said. "I think I'll change you."

"And I think you won't!" a feminine voice called. The man whirled in the direction of the voice but was caught off guard when a young woman launched herself at him. In one hand, the girl held a sharpened piece of wood. With one swift thrust, she drove it through the bad man's chest, and he vanished.

* * *

**Sunnydale California**

**Tuesday, April 8 1997**

**7:00 a.m.**

Martin awoke with a start, stifling a scream. He hadn't had that nightmare for years. But the coming of the vampires had started them up again. In one hand he clutched the cross he always wore around his neck. In the other he clutched his old rumpled Skip. His eyes lit on his father's guitar, sitting in the corner. Suddenly, he had an overpowering urge to play it. He wondered if Willow sang.

* * *

**Sunnydale High School**

**11:30 a.m.**

It seemed natural to Willow that Martin be drawn to her and her friends. Buffy and Xander and Willow were pretty much outsiders who had banded together. As far as anyone outside the circle knew, Xander and Willow had banded together because of that, and Buffy liked outsiders. In that case Martin seemed the next logical choice for their little consortium.

But what no one did know was that they had banded together primarily for a different reason. True, they did have lots in common, and that was a large part of it. But the biggest part was the secret. It was this that Willow thought about now. Xander and Willow, and Jesse; _God rest his soul._ she thought automatically and sadly. Had a secret that must never be told.

Willow wanted to be friends with Martin, as did Buffy and Xander. He was easy to get along with, funny, always had a snappy comeback to Cordelia. And he believed. In Willow's mind that was the biggest reason to bring him in on the secret. But Giles had insisted otherwise. He'd said that Martin should only be told if absolutely necessary. I.E. if he was attacked by a vampire.

Willow got her lunch and headed for the quad. It was a nice day and she wanted to be outside. She figured the others would find her eventually. She emerged into the warm sunshine and stood for a moment, letting it heat up her body, chilled from the air conditioning. As she stood with her eyes closed, it seemed she could hear guitar music to her left.

"Wake up loser." Cordelia snapped, cutting around her. "You're holding up traffic." Cordelia continued on her way, passing the guitar player.

"Cordelia," the player said, and Willow realized it was Martin.

"What?" Cordelia asked impatiently.

"I liked your old nose better." Martin smiled. Cordelia sputtered for a moment, but Martin didn't give her any time to respond. He began playing louder, and ignored her. Willow didn't recognize the song, but it sounded sad.

"Take this hammer," Martin sang, "Take it to the captain. Take this hammer, take it to the captain. Take this hammer, take it to the captain, tell him I'm gone. Tell him I'm gone."

Willow sat next to him, and listened to the rest of the song. "That was beautiful." she said when the song ended. "Where'd you learn that?"

"My father used to sing it to me when I was little." he said softly.

"Does he play guitar too?" she asked. Suddenly she noticed the beginnings of tears in his eyes and immediately regretted it.

"He did. My parents were killed when I was four years old."

Morbid curiosity made her ask; "How did it happen?"

Martin hesitated. "You won't believe me."

Willow smiled at that. There was very little she wouldn't believe at this point. "Tell me anyway."

"My parents," Martin told her. "Were killed by a vampire."

* * *

Willow finally managed to track down Xander, Buffy and Giles in the library. "I really think we should tell Martin." she said.

"We went over this before." Giles said. "To tell anyone, no matter that they believe or not, unless absolutely necessary, could be dangerous to us and them."

Willow didn't bother to argue. "Martin told me his parents were killed by a vampire when he was four years old."

Giles was stunned. "Are you sure about that?" he asked.

"Well I suppose I may have heard him wrong." Willow said. "How many words sound like vampire?"

"Did he tell you anything else?" Buffy asked. "Like how he managed to get away?"

"He told me a girl came and killed it." she answered.

"Where did this happen?" Giles asked suddenly.

"In the quad."

"No, no." Giles said. "I mean where were his parents killed?"

"Oh, in West Virginia."

"Hmm." Giles looked thoughtful. Just then the bell rang. "You'd better get to class."

* * *

**Sunnydale Police Station**

**3:00 p.m.**

"So where to now Mulder?" Scully asked as they exited the police station. After they had gotten into town, their first stop had been the police station to talk to the sheriff.

There had been no more murders since the ones on the report, but Sheriff Simmons had promised them complete cooperation with their investigation and had welcomed them.

"Well," Mulder said, thinking, "The first thing I'm going to do is go talk to Martin."

"Any particular reason?" Scully asked.

"Regardless of his far fetched story," Mulder said, conceding to Scully's opinion, "He's still an eyewitness to the incident at the Bronze."

"And after that?"

"After that, I think we should question the people he mentioned in his e-mail."

"You're putting a lot of faith in the e-mails of one lone teenager Mulder."

"It's a place to start Scully. The coroner won't be available until tonight and besides, all the bodies are already buried."

Scully nodded, conceding his point.

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

**Skorse Residence**

**3:30 p.m.**

Martin sat in his room, puzzling over a particularly nasty bit of math homework. Suddenly he smiled. _I bet Willow would be able to help me with this._ he thought. Pushing his chair away from his desk he rolled over to the bookcase. He rummaged a bit before finding the school directory.

He heard the doorbell ring, but ignored it. His mother was downstairs. Sure enough he heard the door open.

* * *

"May I help you?" Martin's mother asked the two people standing on her front stoop. _If they're Jehovah's Witnesses I swear I'll slam the door._ she thought. She was an atheist. She didn't discourage other people's beliefs, especially Martin's. But she would be damned if she would let anybody convert her.

"Ms. Skorse?" The tall man said.

"Yes?"

"I'm Special Agent Mulder with the FBI This is my partner, Special Agent Scully."

"Oh," Martin's mother suddenly felt afraid. What could the FBI want with her?

"Is your son at home?" Scully asked.

"Yes." she said cautiously.

"May we see him please?"

"Is he in trouble?" Ms. Skorse asked fearfully.

"No maam." Mulder said hurriedly. "We just need to ask him a few questions about the incident at the Bronze several weeks ago."

"Oh." she sighed with relief. "Well he's up in his room, I'll go get him."

"Thank you maam." Scully said.

Ms. Skorse took two steps towards the stairs, and then stopped suddenly. "Oh! Excuse me, come in please."

Mulder smiled. "Thank you." He and Scully entered the house.

"Martin?" Ms. Skorse called up the stairs.

"Yeah mom?" a teenage voice answered. Both Scully and Mulder recognized it as the voice from the frantic phone message.

"Could you come down for a minute? There's...someone here to see you."

"Sure mom!"

In his room, Martin put down the phone he was about to call Willow on. As he descended the stairs he wondered who it was who was here to see him. From the tone of his mother's voice, it was probably some people from child services here to check up on him. Sure enough, two authoritative looking people sat in the living room.

"Martin Skorse?" Mulder asked.

"That's me." Martin said.

"I'm Agent Mulder of the FBI" Mulder said. "This is my partner, Scully."

Scully saw the boy's eyes light up with recognition.

"Why don't I get you some drinks?" Ms. Skorse asked.

"No thank you." Mulder and Scully said simultaneously.

"I believe I'll have one." Ms. Skorse said, and left the room.

As soon as she was gone, Martin said; "Agent Mulder, it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

"Likewise." Mulder smiled. "It's good to see you've survived the rigors of living in this town."

"Have there been any more unusual events after the last one?" Scully asked.

"That depends." Martin said. "What was the last one you heard about?"

"That would be the headless bio teacher." Mulder said.

"Hmmm, then I guess not."

"In that case," Mulder suggested. "Why don't you give us a run down on what's been happening."

"From the beginning." Scully added.

Martin proceeded to tell them all that had happened in Sunnydale from the disappearances of several local teens, to the body of the bio teacher being found in the cafeteria freezer.

"One more question before we go." Mulder said. He looked at Martin sympathetically. "How did your parents die?"

Martin started visibly. "My parents?" Martin sighed, and told the story for the second time that day.

As they left the house, Scully said; "Well that was certainly productive Mulder. He didn't tell us anything we didn't already know."

"Yes he did Scully." Mulder disagreed. "He told us how he survived his parent's murder."

"That has no bearing on this case Mulder."

"I'm not so sure Scully. Martin did say there was something different about Buffy."

"You have a theory Mulder?"

"Nothing concrete enough to go on yet Scully." Mulder said. "I'll let you know."

* * *

**The Bronze**

**8:00 p.m.**

Buffy sat in the Bronze with Xander and Willow, discussing what Martin had told Willow that day.

"Are you sure he was on the level?" Buffy asked.

"Positive." Willow answered. "You just had to look in his eyes to know that."

"Okay so he believed his parents were killed by a vampire." Xander said.

Willow looked at him in surprise. "You're hardly one to be a skeptic." she said.

"Yeah, but c'mon, he was four years old. When I was four I thought my coat-rack was a vampire."

Willow smiled. "So you're saying his parents were killed by a coat-rack?"

Buffy was looking at Xander strangely.

"What?" he asked.

"You had a coat-rack?" Before Xander could answer, Willow saw Giles enter the club.

"Uh oh guys." she said. "Giles is here."

"Why is that an uh oh?" Xander asked. "We like Giles. Giles good."

"Because," Buffy said, "Giles wouldn't come _here_ unless something very big were about to happen."

Xander thought about that for a moment. The last time Giles had been in the Bronze was when Jesse had been killed. "Okay then, I'll second that uh oh, and move to adjourn."

"Ah good," Giles said as he came up to their table, "I'm glad I found you all." He cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I have two things to tell you, one is very important, the other is not so important. Which would you prefer?"

"Weeeell," Buffy said, "Let's go in increasing order."

"Very well then," Giles said, "Buffy there is something about the duty of a watcher that I neglected to tell you."

"You, haven't been watching Buffy when you shouldn't have been have you?" Xander asked.

"No, it's simply that, Watchers don't just watch and train, we also record. And when one watcher passes on, his recordings are passed on to the next. It's sort of like a diary of sorts."

"A Watcher's diary huh?" Xander mused. "Doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Watcher's Chronicle."

Giles raised an eyebrow, eyeing him quizzically.

Xander sank down in his seat. "Okay, so I'm still the only one around here who watches Highlander."

"Anyway," Giles said, "What Willow told us today struck me as familiar, so I looked in the chronicles of the previous watcher." Buffy felt a pang of sadness at that. The previous watcher, Merrick, had died after training her in LA "I found that, there were indeed Vampires in West Virginia at the time of the boy's parents' murders. In fact, I believe I have found the exact instance right here." He showed them the book.

"July 25-" Buffy read aloud. "Sarah's first kill tonight. Though she was successful in saving the life of a four year old boy, we arrived too late to save his parents. Sarah's taking it rather hard, I hope she is able to pull herself together." Buffy looked up from the book in astonishment. Merrick had never mentioned any of the other slayers he'd trained. Other than that he'd trained them.

"Wow." she said.

The table was silent for a while. Then softly Willow said; "What's the more important thing?"

"Oh," Giles said, snapping out of his reverie, "This afternoon, as I was preparing to leave for home, I was visited by two agents from the FBI."

Willow gasped. "What did they want?"

"They wanted to know, if I was here, on the evening of the 13th of March."

"The Harvest." Buffy said quietly.

"What did you tell them?" Willow asked.

"I told them I wouldn't come here if my life depended on it. I don't think they believed me however. At least the tall one didn't."

"Bacon my powder?" Xander asked.

"Well one of them was a rather diminutive woman named Scully. The other was a tall gentleman by the name of Mulder. When I asked them why they were asking me, the tall man said the most peculiar thing."

"What?"

"He said that they had an eye witness to the incident who had placed me, and the three of you here. Intervening on the attack. And, at this last, the woman seemed rather put out, he said that their witness says that the attack was being perpetrated by vampires."

"Some one was there who didn't try to rationalize what they saw." Buffy said.

"Someone who probably already believed in vampires." Willow said softly.

"Hey guys!" Martin said, pulling up a chair. "What's up?" He noticed that everyone was staring at him. "What?"

"So," Xander said to Giles. "Think it's absolutely necessary yet?"

* * *

**Summers Residence**

**8:30 p.m.**

Mulder knocked on the door of Buffy's house. Scully had gone to talk to the coroner. The door opened, revealing a wary woman in her late thirties.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Hello," Mulder said, "I'm special agent Mulder of the FBI."

"What has Buffy done now?" she asked suddenly.

"Nothing maam." He'd been prepared for this, after learning of Buffy's record. "I'm investigating the incident at the Bronze several weeks ago."

"Yes I heard about it." she said. "But Buffy wasn't there. She was grounded that night. She was in her room all night."

Mulder mulled this over. "I don't know how to tell you this maam," he said, "But I have an eyewitness who claims to have seen her there that night."

"Are you sure it was her?" she asked hopefully. "Not just someone who looked like her?"

"'Fraid not maam." Mulder answered. "My source named her specifically."

Ms. Summers lowered her head to her hand, in frustration.

"Maam," Mulder said, "Could I talk to your daughter?"

"She's not here." she said softly. "She went to a club. It might have been the Bronze."

Mulder felt rather uncomfortable. He had not meant to cause anyone any trouble, all he wanted was the truth. And if his theory was even halfway correct, this girl Buffy certainly didn't deserve or need the aggravation of a mother who couldn't trust her. "It may help you to know," he said, "That my witness' account does not fit at all with the accounts of every other witness."

The woman looked at him in confusion. "Then why investigate it?"

Mulder smiled wryly. "That's my job. Thank you for your time Ms. Summers."

* * *

**The Bronze**

Martin sat in his chair, totally blown away by what he had just been told. He rubbed his mouth, letting it play around in his head, it actually explained so much, the girl who had saved him when he was four, why Buffy had been kicked out of her old school, everything.

"Oh shit." he muttered. He looked at the four faces looking at him. "You all must be pretty pissed." he said.

"What?" Buffy asked. "Why?"

"I brought them here." Martin said.

"The vampires?" Xander asked.

"Yes Xander." Martin said. "I brought the vampires. Sunnydale was just so dull I couldn't stand it so I brought the undead to liven the place up. I brought those two FBI agents."

"What do you mean you brought them here?" Giles asked.

"I'm the one who told Mulder about what happened at the Bronze. That's what they're investigating. Among other things."

"Define, among other things." Xander said.

"I told them everything." Martin then told them the whole story of his correspondence with Mulder, including his interview with the two agents earlier.

"You didn't mean any harm." Willow said. "I'll admit we were surprised, but you didn't do anything wrong really. You did what you thought was right. In my shoes, I'd want to find out what was going on too."

"Yeah but you wouldn't pretend to be someone's friend just to get that information would you." Martin said with intense self recrimination.

"Were you pretending?" Willow asked softly.

Martin looked directly at her for the first time that evening. "No." he said. "When I started out, all I wanted was the truth. But that changed after that first lunch. I really do want to be your friend. That goes for the rest of you too." he added hastily. They smiled. He'd fooled no one.

"Well," Giles said, "I guess the only thing left to be said is-"

"You should be at the cemetery." Angel said to Buffy.

Everyone at the table jumped, they hadn't heard him come up.

"Actually," Giles said. "I was going to say `Welcome to the circle'. But that will do."

"Why?" Buffy asked. "What's going on?"

"What's ever going on when he shows up?" Xander said.

"Oh, yeah." Buffy said, getting up. "See you guys tomorrow." She left with Angel.

Martin looked at the people still at the table. "Aren't we going to help her?" he asked.

"Yes," Giles said, "We are. By deciding what to do about the two FBI agents."

* * *

**Sunnydale Funeral Home**

Scully looked at the coroner in shock. "You didn't perform any autopsies?" she asked incredulously. In her hand she held the combined files of all the "Vampire" victims.

"What would have been the point?" the coroner asked. "It was obvious what had killed them."

"You can't be serious." Scully said. "There was hardly any sign of a struggle, it says so right here, so they must have been drugged prior to the draining of the blood. And yet you didn't so much as check for any evidence of such. You didn't do a thing except tag them and stick them in the ground. You may have seriously put a crimp in any investigation because of this. Surely you're not going to tell me you believe that vampires killed these kids."

"Please Agent Scully," the coroner said derisively. "I'm a fully licensed medical practitioner. I don't believe in Vampires any more than you do."

"All right," Scully sighed, "First thing in the morning I want those bodies exhumed."

"But-"

"Do you want to know what happened to those kids? Do you want this killer found?"

"Of course I do-"

"Then don't argue, just arrange it." Scully stormed out of the office, silently cursing the man's incompetence. She decided her next step would be to visit the hospital and see what she could discover about the other instances. Then suddenly she stopped, and headed back to the coroner's office.

The coroner stared hard at the closed door. "Oh I'll arrange it all right." he whispered. Then Scully came back in.

"You come to bawl me out again?" he asked.

"Hardly." she said. "Where's the file on that Biology teacher?"

"Right here." he said, handing it to her.

Scully took it and read it quickly. "Cause of death, severe lacerations to the chest and groin area. Decapitation performed post mortem." she read. _That's strange,_ she thought. _Why would he do an autopsy on a headless corpse, but not the others?_ Shrugging, she exited once again.

_What a strange person._ the coroner thought.

* * *

**Sunnydale Memorial Hospital**

Scully scanned through the files that Dr. Bernard had pulled for her. As a welcome change, these reports were thorough and complete.

She took Cordelia Chase's MRI results to the light board and looked at them for a moment. Sure enough, there was no discernible damage done to her retina. And the report from Dr. Bernard about his interview with Cordelia confirmed that all she had experienced was a swift, but gradual fading of her eyesight, until she was completely blind. And then, without warning her eyesight had returned. Not a gradual returning, but all at once, she could see again. The doctors were baffled, and Scully couldn't think of a single thing to remedy that.

Next she checked the file of the girl who'd grown the tissue over her mouth. It was equally baffling. She didn't bother to check the file on the spontaneous combustion incident. Scully was loath to even consider Martin Skorse's theory that Witchcraft was involved. Even if witchcraft existed, which she firmly did not believe, what self respecting witch would be so petty as to use her skills to become a cheerleader? "But what other explanation is there?" as Mulder would say.

It was at that moment, that her cell phone rang. "Scully." she answered.

* * *

**Memorial Avenue**

**Beside the Cemetery**

Mulder drove down the empty streets of Sunnydale, heading in what he hoped was the direction of the Bronze. As he was passing the cemetery he saw something far more urgent than his previous plans. He stopped the car and grabbed his cellular phone.

"Scully," she answered on the second ring.

"Scully get an ambulance to the cemetery now." he said.

"What's going on Mulder, I thought you were going clubbing."

"I think we've got our man Scully." Mulder knew that if this was indeed, a Vampire attack then there would probably be more where it came from, but he didn't tell Scully that. He only said; "Possible Vampire attack." Before Scully could scoff, he hung up and jumped out of the car, drawing his gun with his right hand, and pulling a stake and a flashlight from his pocket with his left.

Buffy flipped over the vampire's clumsy lunge. _Must be new._ she thought. _It hasn't gotten used to it's power yet._ She didn't allow herself to think about the fact that she'd been too late to save the person who'd been attacked, she just did what she did. But what she did didn't usually involve having her fight interrupted by a flashlight shining at her and the shout;

"Freeze! Federal Agent!" but that's exactly what happened. Buffy took advantage of the vampire's distraction and staked it. Then she took off running.

Mulder swore under his breath and took off after the girl, he could hear the ambulance coming up the street. He knew they'd find the scene without trouble, besides, he had a suspect to catch.

Scully was the first out of the ambulance when it stopped. She saw Mulder's car, and dimly saw two figures fleeing the scene. She figured one was Mulder, probably in pursuit of their suspect. She ran to the body lying on the ground, and felt for a pulse. There was none, and a second later she knew why. There were two puncture wounds on his neck. Dr. Bernard hurried up to her.

"Is he-?"

"He's dead." Scully said. "Let's get him back to the lab, I'll want to do an autopsy as soon as possible."

"I'll contact his family." Dr. Bernard said. "Should be able to arrange for one by tomorrow night."

"Good." Scully said. "Hopefully my partner will be able to catch whoever it was he was chasing."

"No such luck Scully." Mulder said, returning slightly winded.

"You lost the suspect?" Scully asked, disappointed.

"'Fraid so Scully." he answered. "But if it's who I think it is, I know where to find her."

* * *

**The Bronze**

"Are you sure Buffy will be all right?" Martin asked Willow as they left the Bronze with Giles and Xander.

"She knows what she's doing." Xander assured him.

They'd reached an impasse as to what to do to get rid of Mulder and Scully. Martin said that from what he knew of Mulder, he wouldn't give up until he'd found the truth. He'd suggested telling Mulder. He was pretty sure he could keep a secret.

Giles had vetoed that right away. At the same time he'd agreed that they couldn't just ignore them and hope they'd go away.

"Maybe Buffy will have an idea." Willow said. At that moment, Buffy ran up to them.

"What happened?" Willow asked.

"Yeah," Xander said, "I thought the Vampires were supposed to run from you, not the other way around."

"I wasn't running from the Vampires." Buffy said.

"Good heavens," Giles said, "You've been running from the FBI haven't you."

"Yup." Buffy said simply. "But I lost him pretty quick. I guess they don't train them to chase Vampire Slayers on foot."

"Geez, now you're on the run from the FBI." Martin said. "Me and my big virtual mouth."

"Hey don't worry about it." Buffy reassured him. "I don't think he got a look at me. So what did you guys decide."

"Well actually," Willow started.

"We decided to sleep on it." Xander said.

"Ooo, good call." Buffy said. "I know I'll feel an awful lot better after a good night's sleep."

"Yeah me too." Martin said. He started to walk off but then stopped. "Um, this is gonna sound really stupid but,"

"We've accepted your apology several times already." Giles said smiling. "It really isn't necessary."

"Well it isn't that." Martin said, blushing. "It's just that, after all that's happened, I..."

"Would feel better walking in a group?" Willow said.

"Yeah." Martin said, thanking her with his eyes.

"Well I can do you one better," Giles said, "I'll drive you all home."

* * *

**Summers Residence**

Buffy unlocked the door and entered quietly, figuring her mother would be asleep.

"Where have you been?" her mother asked from the couch.

"Oh!" Buffy started. "Hi mom. I was just at the Bronze with my friends."

"Oh, I see." Her mother seemed to be troubled over something.

"Mom what's wrong." Buffy asked.

"I got a visit from an FBI agent tonight Buffy." her mother said. "He told me a witness to the gang attack had said that you were there."

"What?" Buffy was stunned. Now she had to lie to her mother again, something she hated most in the world. "Mom, I was not there. I was in my room the whole night."

"Were you?"

"Yes! My God, can't you trust me?"

"Who are your friends Buffy?" her mother asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Buffy," her mother said tiredly, "I know that you are a sixteen year old girl, and that sixteen year old girls need to keep secrets from their mothers. But I have to know, that you did not go to the Bronze when you were grounded."

"Mom, I told you-"

"I need to know, that there will not be a repeat of what happened in LA. I need to know, that your friends are not like that boy Pike."

"Pike?" Buffy asked. "I cannot believe you brought him up Mom. Pike and I are ancient history."

"History repeats itself. And now I will repeat myself. Who, are, your, friends?"

Buffy sighed, her mother needed to know, and it was the only way she could keep her mother's trust. "Willow and Xander mom. Willow is on the honor roll, has been for years, and Xander is, well, he's not Pike."

Her mother hugged Buffy. "Thank you." she said. "I know it's hard, but every now and then, I need that reassurance. Now get to bed."

"Mom?"

"It's okay Buffy. The Agent said that the witness' account didn't hold up against anyone else's. I just had too be sure."

"I love you Mom." Buffy said, hugging her mother. _Please don't make me lie to you again._

"I love you too dear. Now get to bed."

* * *

**Sunnydale Cemetery,**

**Wednesday, April 9**

**9:13 a.m.**

Mulder stood next to Scully, watching the steam shovel dig up the grave of the most recent victim of the "Vampire" killings. After it had removed a sufficient amount of dirt, two men got into the now open grave and began to uncover the coffin. Mulder was watching it all intently. A fact that did not escape Scully's notice.

"What do you think we'll find Mulder?" she asked.

"Do you want an honest answer?" he smiled.

"No, but tell me anyway."

"I think we'll find an empty coffin."

"Mulder," Scully challenged, "If we find an empty coffin, I'll let you go off and interview whoever you want, while I stay here and supervise the exhumation of the bodies. But if we find a body in there, you have to stay and help."

"You're on."

The men gave a shout when they found the coffin, and hoisted it up out of the grave. Two more men stepped up with crowbars and opened it. Scully's jaw dropped. The coffin was empty.

"Have fun Scully." Mulder whispered in her ear.

"Oh shut up."

* * *

**Sunnydale High School,**

**10:10 a.m.**

Buffy looked up from her class work as one of the school administrators entered the class room. The woman handed her teacher a note and left.

"Buffy?" her teacher said.

Buffy sighed and headed for the front of the room.

"Uh oh," Cordelia said, smiling, "Somebody's in trouble."

Buffy reached the teacher's desk. "Mr. Flutie wants to see you dear."

"Oh joy." she muttered and headed for the principal's office. On her way, she pondered what it could be about. And then she knew. "Oh great," she said. "Now I get to lie to the FBI."

As she entered the office, she saw at once that she had been right. Standing in the office, next to the desk was the man that had chased her last night.

"Buffy," Principal Flutie said, "Welcome. I'd like you to meet Agent Mulder of the FBI. He'd like to ask you a few questions about what happened at the Bronze."

"Sure." she said unenthusiastically.

"I'll be right outside." Flutie said to Mulder and Buffy.

For a moment, Buffy considered insisting that Flutie stay. _Although,_ she thought looking at the F.B.I. agent, _I have to admit, he's a hottie._

"So," she said, "Why do you want to ask me about something I didn't even know about until the next day?"

"I have a witness who says otherwise." Mulder said.

"And you're taking his word over that of everyone else?"

"What makes you think my witness is male?"

Buffy felt like slapping herself. _Watch those little slips of the tongue girl._ she thought. "What are you talking about?" she snapped. "You already got me into trouble with my mom, and now you're questioning me, without the presence of my mother, a direct violation of my rights."

"If you want your mom here, I can call her." Mulder said calmly.

"Is it standard FBI policy to harass ordinary teenagers?" Buffy was scared. Keeping a secret this big from her mom was one thing. Keeping a secret from the FBI was quite another. What would they do to her if they found out about her powers? Dissect her? Study her, clone her so they could have an army of super beings? Apparently a bit of Martin was beginning to rub off on her. "An ordinary teenager who's made a few mistakes in life who's trying to start over!"

Principal Flutie burst into the room. He'd been alarmed by Buffy's raised voice. "That will be quite enough Agent Mulder."

Mulder lowered his voice and said urgently to Buffy; "I'm not here to hurt anyone Buffy, least of all you. I'm here to find the truth, and stop a killer. And I think you can help me do that."

"What?" Buffy said, taken aback. "How could I possibly help you do that?"

"Why did you burn down the gym of your old school?"

"I thought you were investigating the Bronze." Flutie said.

"I don't know why." She shot a glance at Flutie. "Sir, it's okay, I just got carried away."

"Well," Flutie said, "If you're sure."

"Yes I'm sure."

"All right." Flutie left the room.

"I went through all that before." Buffy said. "I don't know why I burned down the gym."

"Well I think I do." Mulder said. "In LA there was a string of killings in which all the victims were drained of blood. The killings stopped abruptly when you burned down the gym. There were vampires in there weren't there."

Buffy just looked at him in shock. She knew he knew about the Bronze, Martin had told him that, but how'd he figured that out? _Probably wasn't hard._ she thought.

"You're insane." she said. "You think that what happened at the Bronze and the killings here were done by Vampires?" she asked incredulously. "That's it, I've had it. I'm out of here. Principal Flutie," she called, "We're done."

Flutie came in, a decidedly distrustful look on his face. "Well then, good day Agent Mulder." he said.

As Buffy got up, Mulder said; "Buffy wait,"

But Flutie stopped him. "Unless that girl is under arrest, she can go." he said, Buffy didn't think she'd ever heard him angry before. "And if she is, you don't talk to her until her mother is here."

"Buffy is not under any sort of suspicion sir." Mulder assured him. "I'm only trying to find the truth."

"Well that's very nice but children don't learn well when they're upset. Have a nice day."

Mulder sighed and left the office.

To be Continued...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3

* * *

The Bronze,**

**10:00 p.m.**

Mulder sat in his car, across the street from the club. Scully was performing the autopsy on last night's victim. He was waiting to take another crack at Buffy. Then he saw a large group exit the club, Buffy, Giles, Xander, Willow, and Martin. _All my eggs in one basket._ he thought.

Mulder had been mulling his theory over and over, and was even more sure than ever. His spookiness had kicked into high gear on this case.

_Buffy the Vampire Slayer..._ he had said, as a joke. _It was almost as if there's something genetically different about her._ Martin's e-mail had said. In LA there had been several vampire like murders until Buffy burned down the gym, then the murders started up here shortly before she arrived, she and Giles had arrived within days of each other.

Buffy was somehow genetically bred with genes specific to having the skill, speed and strength to kill vampires. She had been born to kill Vampires and Giles was there to guide her. There had been others before her, that was who had saved Martin when he was four years old. The girl he was chasing last night was Buffy and she had not killed that man in the park, she had killed the vampire that had done it. Martin had said that the vampires had disintegrated after being killed. And if the girl's secret ever got out, she and everyone she cared about would be in mortal danger.

Mulder stepped out of the car, he'd decided on the best way of gaining her trust. "Buffy!" As soon as she turned, Mulder shouted; "Your secret's safe with me!"

Buffy was astounded. Was Mulder really that deductive? Had he actually figured it out? She guessed so. The only thing left to decide was whether or not to trust him. She, Martin, Xander, Willow and Giles walked up to Mulder, he couldn't help but wonder if they were about to attack him.

"Um, hi Agent Mulder." Martin said.

"What did you mean," Giles said, "Your secret's safe with me?"

"I meant that the secret of Buffy's powers, and destiny are safe with me." Mulder said.

"He's figured it out," Willow said with some amazement, "Giles you may as well tell him the whole story."

Giles sighed in resignation. "The way these past two nights have gone I might as well call a press conference. Very well, Agent Mulder, Buffy is a Slayer, a girl born once every generation with the power to fight the vampires. I am a Watcher, it is my job to train and guide the Slayer. Does that about cover it?"

"That will do." Mulder said, smiling, then the smile faded. He wondered why, after so many unsolved murders like this, the FBI hadn't been called in sooner. In fact, Skinner had had to fight to get this investigation going. It reminded him of dealing with the Consortium. Mulder's spookiness cut in once more.

The coroner had not been available till the sun went down, there had been no autopsies done on the previous victims, and what usually happened to victims of Vampire attacks?

"Oh god," Mulder said suddenly, startling Buffy and the others, "Scully!" Mulder took off towards his car.

"Um, you guys go home." Buffy said, and took off after Mulder.

"Never a dull moment." Martin muttered.

Mulder reached his car and got in. He was about to leave when Buffy got in beside him. Mulder opened his mouth to protest.

"Don't start." Buffy said. "You're going off to fight Vampires, and that's my job. And I don't mind saying I'm a lot better qualified than you."

"I withdraw my protest." Mulder said and started the car.

* * *

**Sunnydale Funeral Home**

Scully was relieved when she found the body still here. After finding the coffins of every victim empty, she'd begun to feel almost as paranoid as Mulder. Maybe now she could get to the bottom of this.

She snapped on the latex gloves and began recording. "Subject is Caucasian male, weighing approximately 200 pounds. He has been identified as 19 year old Philip Morris. Preliminary examination suggests cause of death to be massive blood loss due to penetration of the jugular vein. Lack of blood found at the scene suggests the use of a suction device of some ki-"

Scully broke off as she felt a hand close over her wrist. She stood stock still for a moment, telling herself that the corpse had not just grabbed her. Then she turned, and found that she was a liar. The corpse that had just grabbed her, was in the process of sitting up. The face of the corpse was now deformed, it's teeth were fangs, and it's eyes were sunken while it's brow bones jutted from it's forehead. The corpse looked around in confusion, as if disoriented. Then it's eyes fixed on her. It let out a yell and dropped her hand.

Scully backed away, not noticing that the newly revived dead boy was just as afraid as she was. Scully heard the door open behind her. She whirled to find a similarly deformed coroner entering the room.

The coroner ignored her, his eyes focused on Philip. Almost absent mindedly he twisted the door handle so it would not open from either side.

"What the hell happened to me?" Philip screamed. "Why am in the funeral home?"

"Now Philip calm down." the coroner said. "You've just been through a traumatic experience, but I promise you, everything will be okay if you listen to me, and trust me. Do you understand?"

"Yeah." Philip said. "I understand."

"Good, now," the Coroner said, indicating Scully, "I'd like you to meet Agent Dana Scully, from the FBI. Now, Scully, young Philip is suffering from a complete loss of blood. But we're going to help him. We're going to do special type of transfusion. Philip, welcome to Vampirism 101."

Scully made a break for the door, but try as she might, she could not budge it. The coroner grabbed her from behind, dragging her towards Philip. He held her arms with one hand, and her hair in his other, exposing her jugular.

"Now Philip," he said, "It's very simple, just bite her jugular, that big vein you see there, form an airtight seal around the bite, and simply swallow what comes."

"But," Philip said, "But that will kill her."

"Philip," Scully said, "There are other ways of getting blood. Ways that won't hurt people."

"Don't listen to her!" the coroner snapped. "She doesn't know what she's talking about! She's mortal! Listen to me Philip, trust me. I'm like you."

Philip stood for a moment, indecisive, and then bent his head towards Scully's neck. "Good boy Philip." the coroner said.

"Scully!" Mulder's shout echoed through the room, Mulder was just outside, trying to open the door.

"Here," Buffy said, "Let me." With one swift kick, the door flew open, and Mulder and Buffy ran in.

The coroner threw Scully at Mulder, knocking them both to the ground. Buffy leaped at him, but he picked the examination table up and smashed it against her.

Buffy lost her hold on her stake and saw a long fingered hand pick it up. She got to her feet, ready to fight, but the new Vampire held it before him, looking from it, to her. Then he turned towards the coroner.

"You're like me." he said, and looked back at Buffy. Buffy tensed, and the coroner smiled. Philip raised the stake and plunged it...into the heart of the coroner. The coroner had just enough time to look amazed before he turned to dust. "But I'm not like you." Philip finished. He looked sadly at Buffy and Mulder and Scully who were just getting to their feet. "And I never will be." With that, he stabbed himself through the heart, and vanished.

Buffy stood, silently, staring in amazed, and shocked awe at the spot where Philip had been standing. She hadn't known Philip Morris, but now she wished she had.

* * *

**Epilogue**

**Flight 451**

**En route from California to Texas**

**Thursday, April 10**

**6:00 a.m.**

Mulder sat on the plane, silently contemplating the events of the past few days. This case had been strange from day one right to the end. The day after the incident in the lab, they'd been taken off the case. Scully had not once spoken of the events, but Mulder knew that eventually they would have to. They would have to tell Skinner for one thing. The fact that they had declared the murders unsolved would not make him happy at all.

* * *

**Sunnydale High School**

**11:45 p.m.**

"You want to do what?" Xander asked incredulously.

"I want to form a horror club." Martin said. The two of them were eating lunch on the quad, Willow and Buffy had not yet joined them.

"Why?" Xander asked. "I mean, what horror movie could compare to real life in this town?"

"Well actually, as sort of a decoy. I mean let's say for instance, someone finds out that there is a slayer. Where are they gonna look first, at some girl named Buffy? Or at a bunch of weirdoes who obsess with the horror genre in general, and the occult in particular."

"You are one weird guy, you know that?"

* * *

**Somewhere beneath Sunnydale**

**Friday, April 11**

**12:00 a.m.**

The Master stood, facing his minion on the other side of the barrier that kept him trapped. "That was too close." he said. "If humans were to discover the truth about vampires, we would have hunters coming out our asses. I want them taken care of. One way or the other, they must not come back here to continue their investigation."

"Trust me." the man said coolly, taking a puff from his cigarette. "Mulder and Scully will not be coming back here."

The End


End file.
